Le Puy en Velay is a remote cathedral city tucked away in the interior of France just to the north of the Cévennes. It is set in a volcanic bowl in the high plateau of the Massif Central. The cathedral is an impressive construction, built of the local volcanic stone, which looks like pumice stone. …
read more...A lot of rubbish is talked about sulphites in wine. And there are a lot of misconceptions. I should say that my starting point in relation to sulphites is that it is a chemical additive, and I am fundamentally in favour of the most natural wine possible, with the minimum of chemicals. I positively seek …
read more...Palomino is the grape variety for sherry; it is a white variety. As Jancis Robinson says in her book Vines, Grapes & Wines, “Palomino happens to produce a potentially great style of wine, but is not an inherently great grape.” Or perhaps it would be more accurate to say that it needs the particular method that …
read more...My friend Jacko opined a few years ago – and he is a person who is not short of opinions – that cooking is performance art. His thesis was: the kitchen works its artistry, the dishes are produced, and then “pouf” they are consumed. I asked him if he considered wine to be performance art …
read more...We awoke on Thursday morning in Carolyn Toulmin’s house. Our window gave on to a view of hillsides covered with frosty, hoar-whitened vines. We had a quick breakfast and were off to taste chez Mme. Girardin in Pommard. We tasted three wines here: her Bourgogne Pinot Noir 2011, which had good, dark colour, a peppery …
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